Practical Garden Art

A few weeks ago, Gigi and I spent the weekend beautifying our veggie patch and building a worm farm. We have bit of variety in our garden now and I've been thinking a lot about garden markers. I've seen some very lovely ones on 'etsy' and 'made-it' but have wanted to make some myself in the spirit of living simply and being frugal.
I saw an inspiring picture on the Internet and thought it would be a great activity for Gigi and I to do together. We collected a variety of smooth rocks of varying size from a nearby river and spent the morning painting them. 

Gigi decided she wanted to use her hands rather than a paint brush. Rather than rocks decorated to look like veggies, as per the inspirational picture, our rocks are decorated with Gigi's hand-prints and foot prints. Not only are they a cute garden decoration, but they are also a nice bit of memorabilia. 
We started off by washing the rocks in vinegar and water with a scrubbing brush. After they had dried off, we painted them with some old art paint I had. I think the paint was water based acrylic, so after it dried I sprayed it with a can of paint sealer specifically for toys/crafts/outdoor ornaments. Hopefully it waterproofs Gigi's lovely works of art. The cost of the project was $10, which was for the can of sealer. There plenty left, which we can use anther day. We now have some lovely and unique garden markers, had a great day in the garden and only spent a small amount of money.